The Canterbury Tales In The Pardoner's Tale

In The Canterbury Tales, out of “The Miller’s Tale”, “The Wife of Bath”, and “The Pardoner’s Tale”, “The Pardoner’s Tale” should win the storytelling contest. The contest rules include that the story must have a moral and be entertaining. “The Pardoner 's Tale” meets both of those requirements. The moral is a valuable lesson, and also entertaining by incorporating dramatic irony into the story for the reader. In “The Pardoner’s Tale”, there are three men who are drunk at a tavern. They set out on a quest to kill death, because death kills their friend. One man says, “There comes a privy thief, they call him Death” (Chaucer “The Pardoner’s Tale” line 72). In saying this, the man personifies death, thus giving death power. The men stumble

The moral is, “Radix malorum est cupiditas” (Chaucer “The Pardoner’s Tale” line 8). Which translates to, greed is the root of evil. This lesson is relatable to all ages. The Pardoner says, “Covetousness is both the root and stuff of all I preach” (Chaucer “The Pardoner’s Tale” line 29-30). Most people greedy at least once in their life, which is the reason the Pardoner always preaches on it. It does not matter what one craves it is the action of wanting more than one needs. The tale is amusing because of the dramatic irony in it. While reading, the reader discovers that the men are planning to kill each other, but the men do not know about it. The men let their greed get control of them, and it turns for the worse. The “two murderers received their due, so did the treacherous young poisoner too” (Chaucer “The Pardoner’s Tale” line 294-295). This keeps the reader enticed because the reader knows something that the characters do not. “The Pardoner’s Tale” will win because it meets the criteria of having a moral and being

The “Miller’s Tale” is inappropriate and crude. This story may offend people because of the content. This tale is about lying, cheating, and more similar vulgar actions. Nicholas, “he caught hold of her genitalia” (Chaucer “The Miller’s Tale” line 3276-3277). This sentence alone is enough for a woman to feel uncomfortable. It is an aggressive action that sounds almost like rape. There is another example of when Alison tricks Absolom into kissing her bottom. Then there is “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, which also is inappropriate. The knight came upon a young lady, “and of that maiden, spite all she said, by very force took her maidenhead” (Chaucer “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” line 64). This also shows the theme of aggressive actions that exemplify rape. The knight even gets away with his crime despite how horrific his action are. The knight ends up receiving a consequence by having to marry an old hag. These two stories are inappropriate and obscene especially towards women. Both “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”are enough as a story but, “The Pardoner’s Tale” is appropriate and the most useful to listeners. “The Pardoner’s Tale” meets both requirements for the competition with its moral and entertainment. It deals with greed, which all people have a problem with at least once. Greed is the root of all evil is a lesson all people can learn from. The tale shows entertainment by the dramatic